The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday lambasted the state government for the submitting a shoddy affidavit in response to an earlier direction by the court to take concrete steps to put an end to the inhumane practice of manual scavenging prevalent in the state.
Acting on public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Manav Garima on the issue of manual scavenging in Gujarat and the inaction of the state government despite Supreme Court's instructions, the division bench of Justice SR Brahmbhatt and Justice VP Patel heavily came down on the government.
The court remarked: "We are at pain to record that the last affidavit placed on record does not reveal any tangible, concrete, reckonable steps taken for radical manual scavenging prevalent in this part".
The division bench also remarked that the state was expected to file a more articulated affidavit enlisting the compliance of the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, which could be tested and examined. Instead, the court said, the state has tried to pass on its proposed road map as concrete steps.
Following the criticism, the state sought time till October 9 to file a detailed reply in the matter, which was granted by the division bench. It, however, clarified that the state's reply should contain at least the list of nodal officers appointed by it to ensure the compliance of the Act and the minutes of the meeting of the monitoring committee, if any meeting is held.
Meanwhile, the court also demanded that the state should clarify the actions taken and explanation for not invoking the provisions of the Act in reported cases of manual scavenging deaths.
Apparently, the petitioner-organisation through its counsel Hirak Ganguly had earlier submitted before the court that death due to manual scavenging is reported from across the state, the provisions of the Act are never invoked in the FIR and police mostly deals it as an accidental death case.
COURT REMARK
We are at pain to record that the last affidavit placed on record does not reveal any tangible, concrete, reckonable steps taken for radical manual scavenging prevalent in this part (Guj)
